Forbidden secrets of the Dorki Ninja Master Tony
I asked Tony to come for a ride with me, hoping to get some pointers and coaching. I gotta tell ya, I got way more than my money's worth! I'll bet I picked up a couple of seconds (faster) with what I learned.
I was braking too early in 1 - the problem was how I applied the brakes. If I jumped on the brakes, I could brake at the 4 marker and be too slow at turn in. If I jumped on the brakes at 3, I couldn't get the car under control in time to turn. If I squeezed on the brakes instead, I could brake at the 3 marker and still be good for turnin. The difference was in how jumping on the brakes upset the car whereas squeezing on the brakes (smoooooth) but with as much maximum brake pedal pressure settled the car before braking it.
The other place I made up major time was in the carrossel. Tony had me stay down low, way down from the alligators. My old line was up on the alligators - if you stay low, you can't get parallel to the little straight-away after 7, but you really don't have to be track right for the turn in to 8 - track middle is good enough. I think that cuts a ton of distance out of the carrossel.
Tony's final advice was to ease up on the wheel for the bump after 9. That bump has eaten a lot of cars over the years. I never thought of just straightening the wheel slightly about 2/3 towards track left, but that is what I did and it seems to help with the car's stability.
So I was real happy with the results. Thanks Tony!
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